Jordan 5 Retro x A Ma Maniére

Delicate shades of grey and off-white known as Photon Dust and Pale Ivory have been brought together on this Jordan 5 Retro x A Ma Maniére sneaker, creating an elegant design. As with some of its other collaborations, the clothing brand made a short film to accompany the release. Entitled Still We Rise, it features a mix of black and white and colour footage of people in the shoe, nicknamed Dawn, as well as its partner release – Dusk – focusing on the themes of identity, diaspora and the power of collective action.

The sneaker is founded upon a rubber outsole with translucent gum yellow sections in the forefoot and heel to lend it a vintage look. Through the middle of the foot is a black segment of lightly textured rubber with Nike lettering debossed into it, and a Jumpman logo can be seen behind the herringbone grip patterns on the partially see-through area beneath the forefoot of the left shoe, with A Ma Maniére’s “A” logo on the right one. The midsole above this comes in black, its dark tones flowing through the dual-layered polyurethane and only stopping to allow Diffused Blue shark teeth to jag back and forth down the lateral flank. A single triangle of this muted blue tone appears on the medial side, while clear windows in both sides of the heel reveal the Air cushioning positioned there to provide high-quality comfort underfoot.

A muted white hue fills out the leather panels of the upper, including the toe cap, the forefoot, the quarter panels, the heel counter and the collar, giving the sneaker a refined appearance. Set into each quarter panel is the usual mesh structure, but this one is a little different to that seen on most AJ5s. If looked at closely, the small holes created there to ventilate the flanks come into view as gaps in the luxury clothing brand’s “A” logo, which is repeated in rows throughout. The same beige-coloured material covers the bottom of the tongue, and off-white laces tie up over it through the various oblong-shaped pieces of the eyestay, here rendered in pale white leather with square eyelets pressed into the ones beside the tongue and oval-shaped ones in the collar. Held in between these last eyelets over the front of the tongue is a clear lace toggle with Nike branding on it and a light yellow tinge running through it.

Meanwhile, the top half of the tongue is coated in a silver reflective fabric with mismatched black embroidery in its centre. On the right foot, a Jumpman logo is depicted, and the left displays another “A” logo. Each shoe’s ankles are also mismatched, the medial side rising higher than the lateral one, but both puffed out to deliver plenty of protection to the wearer. Inside, a Diffused Blue material monogrammed with the “A” logo lines the walls, and the similarly coloured insole has Pale Ivory Nike Air branding embroidered into it. A white patch has then been sewn into the back of the tongue, the right-side one containing A Ma Maniére text, the left Michael Jordan’s signature. More finely stitched effects then appear on the outer as two emblems can be seen on the heel counter. The first is another Nike Air logo made using Diffused Blue thread, while the second is Jordan’s jersey number of 23, which has been sewn into the lateral heel in Diffused Blue embroidery. A shadow of black thread serves to lift the feature visually from the surface, thus rounding out this timeless collaborative sneaker with a stylish touch.